Filibustering Senator insists he is not responsible for loss of jobs to Michigan

A state lawmaker who has led the Senate effort to stall economic development legislation ( HB 191 & SB 45 ) rejects suggestions from Governor Jay Nixon (D-MO) that a 900 job expansion might have been lost because of the General Assembly’s failure to pass a bill.

Kokam America of Lee’s Summit has announced a 900 job expansion of its battery manufacturing operation – but will take the expansion to Michigan because of what Nixon believes might be economic incentives in place in that state. He says Missouri might have been able to bring those jobs to this state had it been able to counter the offers made by Michigan.

Senator Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau) insists the Governor cannot point the finger at the Legislature for failure to land the 900 job expansion, saying our State Department of Economic Development is always working on deals with businesses.

“We put competetive packages together each and every day, trying to compete,” said Crowell. “Some we win, some we lose. To be able to say, to any degree, that the reason we lost this one is because we haven’t passed a tax credit bill yet in the General Assembly seems baseless to me.”

Crowell adds there is no way of guaranteeing jobs – even with tax credit incentives.

“I think it would be very, very difficult,” said Crowell. “For the Governor to say if this tax credit bill had passed that that employer would have stayed in Missouri.”

Nixon claims that if the economic development legislation had been passed the state could have offered the company an additional $24.2 million in incentives.